Shoe sewing machines



Jan. 29, 1957 P. H. RANDALL 2,779,299

SHOE SEWING MACHINES Filed NOV` 22, 1954 Invenor @MEM United States Patent Frice 2,779,299

Patented Jan. 29, 1957 SHOE SEWING MACHINES Philip H. Randall, Belmont, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. E., a corporation of New Jersey Application November 22, 1954, Serial No. 470,490

2 Claims. (Cl. 112-52) The present invention relates to shoe sewing machines of the McKay type having a rotary shoe entering horn for inserting a'welt attaching seam in a so-called American or McKay welt shoe. In certain respects the invention is an improvement over that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,331,318, granted October 12, 1943, upon application of G. H. Graham;

In the machine of the Graham patent a McKay or American welt shoe is sewed by directing a storm welt having a narrow weather excluding bead into the point of operation of the machine. For this purpose the machine is provided with an edge gage roll acting on the outer surface of the upper in the shoe being sewn along that portion of the upper supported by the edge of the insole, the upper being temporarily attached to the tread surface of the insole by at lasting. In the machine of the Graham patent the edge gage roll is so formed that it squeezes the bead of the welt forcibly against the portion of the upper supported by the insole to insure an accurate alinement of the bead with the insole edge. In this way the welt is attached in a manner which will prevent gaping of its bead from the upper after the shoe is completed by the addition of an outsole, so that the weather excluding action of the bead is preserved.

For the purpose of giving to a shoe the appearance of a platform sole construction it has been found desirable to attach to a flat lasted shoe a welt having a relatively wide lip or rib with as great a Widthwise dimension as the attaching ange on the welt. Such welt is either in the form of a right angle or a T-shaped section and is so con.- structed that it presses resiliently against the upper at its extreme edge after attachment. the welt is in its relaxed condition before attachment to a shoe the lip is inclined toward the flange on which the attaching means acts. In order to position properly the flange of the welt, on which the attaching means acts, on a shoe it is necessary to ex the lip to more or less degree away from the attaching ilange and, in the case of a T-welt, to tlex toward the ange to which the outsole is to be secured. After attachment to theshoe the natural` resiliency of the Welt causes the lip to hug the bulging portion of the shoe upper with a tight weather excluding joint between them. To insure uniform pressure of the lip on the upperit is necessary also to avoid stretching the welt in a lengthwise direction by keeping it free from resistance to easy feeding movement with the shoe during attachment.

The objects of the present invention are to improve a" sewing machine of the McKay type in a manner which will enable an angular or T-shaped Weather excluding welt to be sewn to a flat lasted shoe without the exercise of exceptional skill or ability on the part of the operator of the machine. A further object is to provide an improved welt guide for a machine of the type referred to, for directing a T-shaped welt to the sewing point in the machine with the parts presented to the sewing `point uniformly in proper relationship.

For this purpose while` To the ends indicated above, one feature of the invention resides in a shoe machine for operating on a welt formed with a flange for attaching it to a shoe and a resilient weather excluding lip extending at an acute angle to the attaching ilange to cause it to engage with a uniform yielding action against the bulging upper of the shoe, which machine is provided with the usual attaching and Work feeding devices, a rotary shoe entering horn, a presser foot and an edge gage mounted on. the presser foot, which machine also is equipped with a slotted guide shaped to tit the flange'of the welt and provided with a nger extending from one side of the slot in the guide at an acute angle to the direction of the welt running between the guide and the shoe to bulge the lip of the welt from an acute angular relationship with the attaching ange into an obtuse angular relationship therewith. Preferably, the attaching means comprises stitch forming devices, and the edge gage is in the form of a rotatable roll into contact with whose periphery the lip is Wrapped for a substantial distance in advance of the point of operation of the stitch forming devices through the bulging action of the finger on the lip. With such machine the shoe is guided uniformly by engagement of the outer surface of the lip on the Welt with the guide roll without imparting excessive frictional resistance to the movement of the welt during feed of the shoe. Accordingly, the welt is applied to a shoe with little, if any, tension and uniform results are insured.

These and other features of the invention, as hereinafter described and claimed, consist in certain novel constructions, combinations, and arrangements of parts which will readily be understood from the following detailed specication taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. l is a fragmentary view in front elevation of `a portion of a shoe sewing machine embodying the present invention, showing its manner of operation on a shoe;

Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of a short length of Welt intended to be operated upon by the machine of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken across a seam inserted by the machine, as seen from the line IilI-III of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a sectional plan View of certain parts of the machine and shoe being operated upon, looking from the line IV-IV of Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a detail view taken from the line V-V of Fig; 1` of the welt guide including a welt of T-section with its lip bulged immediately in advance of the operating point of the machine; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional plan view of a portion of the guide illustrating its lip bulging finger, as seen from the line VI-VI of Fig. 5.

The machine illustrated in the drawing is similar, eX-

cept" as hereinafter described, to that disclosed in United Sta-tes Letters Patent No. 1,827,321, granted October 13,`

1931, upon application of B. T. Leveque and is intended to operate upon the bottom of a at lasted shoe having an upper 2 overlapping the tread surface of its insole 4. During operation of the machine a T-shaped welt of the construction shown in Fig 2 is led toward the operating point on a shoe until a flange 6 for attaching the welt to the shoe comes into contact with the portion of the upper i which overlaps the insole. The welt also has an outsole securing flange S and a resilient weather excludinglip 1t) formed at an. acute angle with relation to the flange 6. The lip has at its extremity a sharpened feather' edge tion along the line of wel-t attachment in advance of the point of 'clamping engagement of the presser Vfoot with the work a slotted guide 22 inthe forrn o f a double ended perforated pla-te shaped at `both ends to iit the attaching and outsole securing ,anges of the'welt, the lip of the welt extending'through cuts entering'the flange retaining slots also at both ends of the guide plate. Tornount the guide on the presser foot a Abolt 24 passes through an elongated aperture in -theinidportionv of the guide', :through a spacer 26 yand an opening in *the npresser foot 1% into threaded relation with the ylower end of the presser foot bar Ztl. To' enable the Amarginal portions of the upper and insole to be directed accurately'into the sewing point the presser foot also has mounted upon it an edgegage rol-l"28 through which passes a Vclamp bolt 30 secured within s lot'in the presser foot at a position along the line of stitching inserted by the machine opposite the point of needle'operation. A s thus-far described the` illustrated machine is the same as Vthat disclosed'in the prior patents.

According to lthe present invention, the slotted and perforatedguide plate 22-which `directs the welt onto a shoe -is located in a position above the level of the shoe `bottom in advance of the point or sewing operations, the welt moving downwardly until its 4attaching ilange comes into contact with the marginal portion of the upper which overlaps the tread ksurface lon the insole, and the lip 1t) of the wel-t immediately in advance of the point of clamping engagement of the presser foot on the Work is bulged away .from its acute angular relationship with 'the attaching iiange 6 into `an obtuse angular relationship therewith. By bulging the lip immediately in advance of the sewing point the'l angular portion of the shoe upper along the edge of the insole is cleared of obstruction to free movement into ,the apex of the obtuse angle between the lip and the attaching ange without danger of frictional contact by the feather edge on the lip or of possibili-ty that the lip will be folded against the bottom of the shoe and drawn under the attaching flange into line with the stitch forming devices.

with. 'the Wrklh@ lis .is deflected 'by the finger into.

contact a substantial distance along 'the' periphery on the roll 2.13, as best shown in Fig. 4.v The lip i@ exerts some pressure `against the roll but because the roll is free to rotate the pressure between the lip and the roll does not produce frictional resistance to movement of the Vwelt duringwork feed. The finger 32 is located a short dis-V tance above the bottom of the shoe Vand so does not intertere objectionably with the clear fee-ding and positioning Y movements vof the shoe, most of the surfaces of the shoe being curved downwardly away from the finger. Y

The lip bulginsiisefr i2 0.111116 Welt snide s-cietive,

in de'ec/'tingthe lip i@ from 'an acute angular relationship to the attaching ange 6 onthc welt intoV an acute angular relationship Vwith the -outseam securing ange 8, as shown in Fig. 5. For the Vpurpose pointed out the guide may be employed with any type of welt having an attaching flange and an upper engaging lip disposed in normal relaxed condition vat an acute angle to each other. -While the finger is useful in sewing ordinary leather Welt constructed with lange and'lip at an acute langle to each other, the` greatest beneiit ,isV obtained in operating upon welt pf extruded synthetic plastic material, such as Koroseal and other rubber-like substances. The advantage gained'in sewing welt constructed from such :material is obtained from its resilient action in forming a tight weather excluding joint `between the lip and the upper of a shoe, The nger is so shaped that after bulging the lip away lfrom the attaching flange on the welt the lip is allowed to return into -rm resilient lcontact with the shoe upper.

Thus, the bulge in the welt lip'not onlyicliears the shoe along that portion in advanceof the presser foot for free.' feeding and positioning movementsin spite ofthe lip ori the welt but also enables the welt to be carried over the tread surface of the shoe to bring yits attaching flange into Ie fuller more uniformly overlapping relationship with -the upper than has .been possible with previous guides for similar welt. A welt guide of the construction described also is useful with machines for attaching welt to shoes by cement or by seams other than ythose formed by thread.

The nature and scope of the invention having'been pointed out and a particular embodiment having been described, what is claimed is: l Y

l. A machine for attaching to the bottom of `a hat lasted shoe, a welt ,formed with an attaching flange and a resilient weather excluding lip extending at an acute angle to each other to cause the lip to `press yieldingly against the bulging surface ofthe upper, said machine having attaching and work feeding devices, a rotary shoe entering horn, a presser foot acting to clamp the' wort-1 against the horn and an edge gage mounted on the presser foot along the line of attachment opposite the point of operation of the attaching devices, in combination with a slotted guide mounted along the line of` attachment in advance ofthe presser foot, shaped to tit the flange of the welt and provided with an integral nger extending from` one side of the slot in the guide beneath the attaching ange'on the welt and at an acute angle to the direction f the weltA running between the guide and the presser foot to bulge the lip on the welt immediately in advance of the point of attachment from an acute angular relationship with the ,attaching flange at'one side ofthe lip into an robtuse angular relationship with the flange, thus clear? ing the shoe for free movement `in advance of theV presser foot;

2. A sewing machine of the McKay type for attaching to the `bottom of a at lasted shoe-by through and through stitches a welt formed with an attaching iiangeandv a' resilient weather excluding lip extending at an acute angle to each other to cause the -lip to be pressed yieldingly -intopresserfo'ot with the'work, shaped to ht the attac-hing flange on the welt and provided with a fingerextending beneath the attaching flange on the welt from one side ofthe lslot in the guide toward the edge gage rollv to a position immediately in advance lof theA paint 'Qi engagement "of the presser fem with the work to'bu'lg'e' the lipfou Vthe welt" away from irt'sacnte angularr relationship with the attaching fiati-S? el. vfrplit-Q e' Siistltialdstence about than, nahe."

theV edge gage rolli'thusV clearingthe shoe V,for tree more?! ment `advimce ofthe presser foot.

References Cited in the file` of thisipatent UNITED STATES PATENTS 644,634. Piuma i .Mar-6, i999; 32.6.1272, Whitaker Alle: .19t l A Y 2,331,318 Graham se .G ct- 12, ,l 

